AUTOPSY: MAN SHOT BY COP WAS ON MARIJUANA

A Los Angeles-area man tested positive for marijuana when he was fatally shot by a sheriff’s deputy during a bizarre outburst in Oceanside last year, according to an autopsy report released this week.

Elwood Edwards-White, 22, a Santa Clarita resident who was in town visiting a friend, threw cinder blocks at passing vehicles and confronted officers with a rake he had broken in half before he was shot May 20.

The Medical Examiner’s Office found cannabinoids in Edwards-White’s system, but no other narcotics, according to the toxicology report. Inside his wallet was a card for medical marijuana.

His acquaintances told investigators they thought he suffered from bipolar disorder or “other psych issues,” but his family said he had no history of mental illness, including paranoid schizophrenia, and no history of odd behavior, the report states.

He last spoke with his father May 19, and Edwards-White was reportedly in good spirits, according to the report.

The next afternoon, he was seen throwing cinder blocks at traffic at Oceanside Boulevard and Melrose Drive.

He then walked to a nearby AM PM minimart and threw bottles around the store. He overturned a table, then walked down Ocean- side Boulevard, throwing rocks at passing cars.

A city parking officer pulled over to report the disturbance, and Edwards-White climbed into the back of the officer’s pickup. He found a rake in the back and broke it in half.

Two Oceanside police officers and three sheriff’s deputies from Vista arrived and ordered Edwards-White to drop the stick, but he advanced, confronting them with the jagged end, authorities said.

A deputy fired once, striking him in the chest, the medical examiner said. He died at the scene.

His family expressed shock at the shooting and could not explain the bizarre behavior. His father, Tim White, told investigators his son had no significant medical history, including no past suicide attempts or substance abuse.

For his family, the question of what went wrong remains unanswered.

“It is a big question. I go over it daily,” his father told U-T San Diego.

“We are still trying to think of every kind of scenario and theory possible. We’re still devastated.”

Edwards-White was working as a hospice caregiver and studying to go to college to become a pastor, the father told authorities.

The District Attorney’s Office is reviewing the deputy’s actions to determine whether they were justified, and the agency will issue a report on its conclusions.